Your House of Representatives passed an NDAA that will provide better pay to our military and strengthen our national defense. At the same time, it will save taxpayers billions by cutting inefficiencies. The House's NDAA would:

• Increase servicemember basic pay by 5.2% (the largest raise in 2 decades)
• Reject the Biden administration's effort to shrink the size of our Navy
• Direct more funding to the Indo-Pacific to focus on the threat of China
• Prevent the Department of Defense from sending money to CCP-tied entities
• Expand partnerships between the U.S. and Israel
• Ban transfer of money to the Taliban
• Fund National Guard operations at the southern border
• Provide new funding for family housing at Keesler Air Force Base
• Save taxpayers $40 billion by cutting obsolete programs and bureaucracy

In addition to strengthening our military readiness, the House's NDAA would direct the Department of Defense away from the left-wing agenda Democrats have been pushing.

Two amendments that I supported would overturn Department of Defense funding for abortion-related travel and gender-transition surgeries (including surgeries for the minor children of some military families). Our taxpayer dollars should never be used for these sorts of programs, and I was proud to help both of those amendments get added to the final bill.

In addition, the NDAA we passed would eliminate the Department of Defense's unnecessary Chief Diversity Officer, defund other DEI officials with outrageous salaries, and ban the teaching of racist ideologies such as CRT in the military.

It would also codify a rule issued by President Biden's Secretary of Defense—at the request of Congressional Republicans—prohibiting taxpayer resources from paying for drag shows and similar events. Making the rule into law would prevent a future Defense Secretary or President from unilaterally overturning it.

Finally, our NDAA would prevent a military version of the Green New Deal. Defense spending should remain focused on the technologies that make America safest rather than prioritizing the lowest possible emissions levels. While keeping our environment clean is important, we cannot allow it to make our military weaker. 

That's the biggest problem with the woke agenda being forced on our troops: it takes the attention away from what really matters. Thankfully, our NDAA would fix that and ensure our military budget is focused on supporting and equipping service members, not pushing a political philosophy.

While the NDAA was our primary focus this week, we also had a Homeland Security Committee markup to move forward three bills focused on strengthening our southern border and protecting against terrorist attacks.

H.R. 4467, which was authored by my fellow freshman, Congressman Josh Brecheen (OK-2), requires reporting on contractors operating at the southern border. When the government pays private corporations to carry out government services, Congress must ensure they are held accountable. That's especially true when those contractors are handling matters of national security, such as securing our southern border.

The committee also passed a bill that would protect high-risk chemical facilities from attacks and a bill to combat rising suicide rates among our Border Patrol Agents.

I'm proud of the work our committee has done to defend America here at home, and I hope to vote for all three of these bills on the House floor soon.